CAIRO: Egypt's prime minister defended the country's biggest publicly traded property developer at the center of a contested land deal, saying in comments published Wednesday that media attacks on investors and such firms amounted to "economic suicide." Ahmed Nazif's remarks in defense of Talaat Moustafa Group, the force behind the disputed $3 billion Madinaty project, reflect the government's concerns that a high court's decision to uphold a ruling annulling the sale of government land for the project would undercut widely held views of Egypt's real estate sector as an investment safe haven. It is unfair to criticize investors who buy desert land and transform it into something habitable, Nazif said in comments in the state-run Al Gomhuria newspaper, arguing that such companies "deserves to be praised, not harmed or libeled." Media attacks on investors in such projects "are economic suicide and a threat to the welfare" of the average Egyptian, he said. The government has formed a committee to find a legal solution to the Madinaty crisis after a high court last week upheld a ruling voiding the sale of the land to TMG. The issue centers on whether the New Urban Communities Authority, a Housing Ministry body, acted correctly in awarding the land directly to TMG instead of offering it through public auction. The verdict battered TMG's shares for several days before the stock price began to rebound. But the case has sparked worries that similar litigation against other mega-projects could undercut investor confidence in a key economic sector. Another developer, Palm Hills, also faces a similar case. Egyptian officials have said the government is committed to finding a solution to the issue that protects the rights of investors, stakeholders and those who bought property in the 33-square-kilometer project. While TMG was not a direct party to the case brought by a businessman, the company has been in the media spotlight in no small part because its former chairman Hisham Talaat Moustafa, was seen as close to President Hosni Mubarak and was a member of the upper house of parliament. He has since fallen from grace and is being retried for the murder of his Lebanese diva girlfriend. Nazif said it was wrong to demonize companies such as TMG, arguing it serves no end other than to "demolish our economy with our own hands."
